Along with prisons, working factories are the institutions of modern societies that deserve, more than any other, the designation “untouchable”. Rarely do those without a professional connection to the site have the opportunity to enter one of the remaining “modern cathedrals” of our time.

In the “hideaways” of the Mouzaki textile industry

Thus, the group exhibition “The butterfly Effect” is a first-class opportunity for the public to enter the underworld of the El textile industry. D. Mouzakis – “Butterfly”, in the area of ​​Eleonas, next to, boxed, feu, Kifissos. The exhibition, organized by artefact athens, curated by Kostas Prapoglou, is probably the first to be hosted in an operating factory.

Forty-one artists participate in this contemporary art exhibition, with works that speak directly to the space (site-specific) and attempt to respond to the conceptual framework set by the curator, which is nothing more than a poetic and allegorical transfer of “butterfly effect”: According to chaos theory, an infinitesimal change in the flow of events (“the flight of a butterfly in Beijing”) leads, over time, to an evolution dramatically different from that which would have taken place, if the change hadn’t happened (“…may cause a storm in New York”).

Journey to Elefsina

The participants interact with the factory’s industrial environment and mechanical equipment, while many use the yarn produced there as raw material for their works, either in its physical or symbolic form. On the contrary, the impact of human work seems to be small, either as a daily relationship (the relationship par excellence!) inside the factory or as a memory and lived experience.

The exhibition narrative creates for the visitor a path, conscious and emotional, from Above to the Underworld, from the ground level to the dark basement, which turns out to be emotionally much richer. After all, Kostas Prapoglou’s obsession with the path to Eleusis and its Mysteries, with the Sacred Way and with places of transition in general had become evident in the two previous group exhibitions he curated, at the Psychiatric Hospital of Dafniou (“Reality Check » I and II, 2021 and 2022, respectively).

Exhibition

In the factory yard

Rigorously structured, the exhibition narrative follows a route that begins in the factory yard, where the visitor is greeted by Eozen Hagopian’s large-scale work of thread, fabric and painted canvas (“In Process Twice”), which was completed on site, with clear references to chrysalis and metamorphosis.

Then, a series of works are juxtaposed with the mechanical equipment of the factory, focusing on time (Christina Anid, “Vortex”), evolution and transformation (Alison Woods, “Chrysalis”), but also roots ( Anna Petranaki, “Antennas”).

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